Florida Expunction or Sealing
Expunging or sealing your record are ways of removing or cleaning up your criminal history. “Expunging” is the process of erasing governmental records of criminal history while “Sealing” is the process of sealing or limiting access to criminal history records for a ten year period prior to being allowed to expunge the record(s). Whenever you are arrested for a crime in the state of Florida, a negative mark appears on your criminal record regardless of the outcome of the case and the falseness of the accusation. Even if you were not convicted after your arrest, your criminal record can be jeopardized. An arrest on your criminal record can affect future employment, financial, educational, and public service to name a few.
Depending on the nature of the outcome or “disposition’ of the arrest or charge, that record may be sealed or removed from governmental public record. Fortunately, there is a way in which you can “erase” arrests from your criminal record. You can remove arrests from your criminal record if your case was dismissed or the state of Florida drops your case.
You may expunge misdemeanor, felony, and juvenile arrest records. Sealing is only possible with certain misdemeanors where a “withhold of adjudication” was granted.
Criteria For Expunction
You must meet the following basic requirements.
- You must not have had a record sealed or expunged before.
- You must not be under any form of court supervision, such as probation.
- You must not have received a withhold of adjudication.
- You must have not have been convicted of a misdemeanor felony.
Our office would welcome the opportunity to discuss the possibilities of clearing up your record by expunction or sealing.
